3 link vs 4 link

[ssonic]

i have searched the archives and cant really find the answers to my questions so im forced to make another thread.
what are some of the advatages of each. im talking straight on performance. so having a hump in my rear seat does not matter in the case of the 3 link. has anyone experienced both? i am looking at either the DSE quadra link or the Lateral Dynamics kit but i cant find out which out performs the other. how simple is installation on either? it is so hard to find an honest answer so can you guys please help me out? :thumbsup:

[Vince@Meanstreets]

try a search cornercarvers.com for some very indepth discussions on this. There are some real life and actual tests and comparisons made by experienced suspension guys there.

[James OLC]

I could not be happier with the Lateral Dynamics 3-Link. :thumbsup:

I have been talking to Matt and Mark throughout the building of my '67 and have just started in installation of the 3-link. The quality of the pieces is excellent and the installation is not that difficult. If you are comfortable enough with your building skills to be asking about this type of project then you are probably more than capable of doing the installation. We were able to install the front and rear crossmembers easily in one day and if it were not for timing problems, I would say that we could have been done in two days without problem.

Did I mention that the parts themselves are awesome? The narrowed differential just arrived yesterday and pictures just do not do it justice. Once you get around the quality of the welding you just stare at the design. :bow:

[chicane]

3 linky. No question.

[Mean 69]

***** Thanks guys*****

I'd have to agree that the real tale will come down to the specific "numbers" or direct performance feedback from finished cars. Trouble for us at this point is that we are a very young company, and due to the nature of our product(s), we generally support pretty serious customer builds that take a while to complete. Also because we're young, and generally not known, we have to pay for all of our own parts when we build our own cars, and that generally takes a lot of money. I don't mind, frankly, we're not a charity but it does hurt us relative to established outfits that have mountains of cash, or people knocking down their doors to give them free parts. It's all part of the start up phase, part of the game. Specific to DSE, they make great parts, we use and recommend many of their products, but we chose to have a slightly different focus on the products we develop (or will be releasing soon).

I will state, with supreme confidence, that our setup from a pure performance and value standpoint is very, very difficult to come close to, bar absolutely none in terms of competitive products. We use the phrase "Road Race Inspired," whihch is the truth behind our engineering requirements. Why? Do we expect everyone to build road race cars? No, rather it is because the specific requirements of a true road course capable car demand that all important aspects of handling be covered, or the driver will be in for an interesting ride. Acceleration, slow corners, fast corners, braking, transitional changes, you name it. Cool thing is, if a car can handle all of the above, it's very likely to be able to do just fine in all other arenas (auto-cross, drag strip, roads, etc). At this point of our existance, and frankly this will remain true throughout as long as I am in charge (an I don't intend to go anywhere), we put performance well before marketing and advertising. No question the latter will become more important, but if given a choice to put $10k into an ad in Super Chevy, or to put it into product development, well, you don't see ads in Super Chevy yet.

We would liked to have had a car ready for the shin-dig out in Pigeon Forge that our buddy Bill Howell is putting on, but we are just not going to be ready. I am very confident that we would show very well relative to the cars they expect to show there.

We tried to put a good amount of detail and design approach/philosophy in our website, but we can certainly answer specific questions if something isn't clear or is missing, so fire away if you'd like.

One thing that I am especially pleased with is the customer base that we have pulled together so far. We are still very small, so it's difficult for us to do all things good, and that's just reality. But, the customers we have so far, just like our friend from up North, are so supportive, give us tremendous feedback, and have just as much (or more) of the stoke factor as we ourselves do. In that regard, I could not be happier, we just need to round out the rest of the business such that we can manage a larger number of folks just like them. Maybe you'll be one of them!?!

Whatever you decide, have a great time with your project, it's a terrific hobby and we love it.

Mark

[XTRMEASURES]

i have two questions
can the 3link be used with airbags, and do you lose your back seat?

[Mkelcy]

i have two questions
can the 3link be used with airbags, and do you lose your back seat?

You'll get a better technical answer from someone else, but I think that's a bit like asking if your 89 year old grandmother can get breast implants. Most likely the answer is "yes," but then why would she want to do that?

The three link is a high performance rear suspension, and I doubt airbags are the best way to extract the performance built into the design. But then again, I may be wrong, there are probably dirty old men who'd like to see those implants. . .

[XTRMEASURES]

lol i like that

ok i was realy talking about the shockwave setup

[Matt@Lateral Dynamics]

We are currently looking into the possibility of running Shockwaves with our 3-Link. It might work. How's that? :)

[XTRMEASURES]

YOUR MY BOY BLUE :hail:

[Mkelcy]

We are currently looking into the possibility of running Shockwaves with our 3-Link. It might work. How's that? :)
Ah, implants for everyone!

[Mean 69]

Ah, implants for everyone!

It's on our list of things to do/look at. But, its a very long list. And this isn't at the top. We do get a fair amount of inquiries though.

Mark

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Mark,
let me know and I can gather up a set of double adjustable Shockwaves buiilt to your specs and send them to you. I would even invite some back to back comparisons or track tests with your set up and if you have any input based on your design criteria, if it needs more shock or less shock and where (out side of the double 16 adjustable positions) we can accomodate that because every shock we use is built and dynoed in house. :thumbsup:

[Steve1968LS2]

Mark,
let me know and I can gather up a set of double adjustable Shockwaves buiilt to your specs and send them to you. I would even invite some back to back comparisons or track tests with your set up and if you have any input based on your design criteria, if it needs more shock or less shock and where (out side of the double 16 adjustable positions) we can accomodate that because every shock we use is built and dynoed in house. :thumbsup:

Hmm.. all you would need is a car to test them on.. lol

:_paranoid

[Matt@Lateral Dynamics]

Tony, I spoke with someone at your shop and I've got a catalog coming with dimensions so I can see if they will even physically fit. If they can then we'll be in touch.

[itlbtu]

I like the looks of the lateral dynamics set-up. I used to race late model, and one of the cars I raced had the Watts link set-up, while the others had a long panhard bar. The watts link was just the oposite though. The watts linkage was on the rear end, and connected to the frame rails. Does anyone have any pictures that show the finished interior? I still would like to have a useable rear seat.

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Tony, I spoke with someone at your shop and I've got a catalog coming with dimensions so I can see if they will even physically fit. If they can then we'll be in touch.

Matt... No problem, I can also supply you with dimensional drawings if you need. The 7000 series are only about 4-4.5" max diameter so it should be a cake walk. Let me know if you need anything and like I said... That is an open invitation anytime to do some real world testing with some of our goodies. :cool:

[XTRMEASURES]

i cant wait to see it
is there any chance you guys build it for a 80 camaro.... ;)

[ProBell]

I had a 3-link built for my 67 Camaro. It works vary well on the street and the road course. The car is better than the driver at this time.
Here are some pictures of how I did my 3-Link and back seat.

[XTRMEASURES]

I had a 3-link built for my 67 Camaro. It works vary well on the street and the road course. The car is better than the driver at this time.
Here are some pictures of how I did my 3-Link and back seat.
nice car/set up